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Rafael Lozano-Hemmer created Voice Bridge, a site-specific installation for Project 1. Located on Grand Rapids’ iconic Blue Bridge — a pedestrian bridge which connects the East and West sides of downtown over the Grand River — there are 400 lights that shine on the footpath of the bridge. You may control the intensity of each light by speaking into the intercoms at each end of the bridge and recording a message. Once recorded, your message will play back as a loop — jumping from speaker to speaker across the bridge as more messages are recorded.

Lozano- Hemmer’s Voice Bridge sends messages across the physical divide of the city (the river) connecting the East and West side of Grand Rapids. Your creative challenge is to design your own “voice bridge” for your friends and family, by using a low technology solution - the string telephone.

STEP 1: Punch a small hole in the bottom of each cup, and thread a string between the two. STEP 2: Tie a knot inside the cup on each end. STEP 3: Decorate your string telephone with words and images that tells a story or describes who you are. STEP 4: Find a friend or family member to share stories with using your string telephone. Ask them to speak into one cup as you hold the other to your ear with the string pulled tight. Experiment by using a longer string and take each cup to a separate room and see how far your string telephone can bridge two divided spaces.

SCIENCE CONNECTION:

When one person talks into their cup, the bottom of the cup vibrates back and forth with the sound waves. The vibrations travel through the string and the bottom of the second cup vibrates back and forth just like the bottom of the first cup is vibrating, allowing the second person to hear what the other is saying. Notice what changes if you loosen the slack on the string. Why did the sound change? Sound waves travel best through hard material. When you loosen the string the material becomes soft and the vibrations dissipate.

What you will need:

Creative Challenge: Acoustic Connections

2 paper cups1 small nail 1 length of cord or string 2 – 6 feet longMarkers and / or drawing tools

Collect all 5 creative challenges in the Project 1 by ArtPrize Discovery Deck.

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Creative Challenge: Kaleidoscope Browder’s title, Kaleidoscopic is inspired by the colorful patterns a kaleidoscope makes. Your creative challenge is to create a kaleidoscope.

SCIENCE CONNECTION:

Kaleidoscopes were invented in 1816 by David Brewster, a Scottish inventor who studied polarization optics and the properties of light. He named this new invention after the Greek words meaning “beautiful form watcher.” The kaleidoscope is based on the principle of multiple reflection. When a light ray enters the tube, the ray then bounces off the angled mirrors to create reflections within the kaleidoscope.

Browder creates large-scale, vibrant fabric installations, turning building exteriors and other public sites into multi-colored sculptures. Community participation is essential to her work. Leading up to the installation of her work for Project 1, the Grand Rapids community collaborated with Browder by donating colorful fabric and sewing alongside her.

STEP 1: Decorate a cardboard tube with symbols and patterns relating to your personal or community narrative. STEP 2: Cut reflective mylar or mirrored sheet in 3 equal strips, each 1 ½ inches wide and the length of your cardboard tube. STEP 3: Line up your reflective paper strips, and tape them together along the longest side, with a small gap between them. Fold them to create a prism. Fit the prism snugly in your cardboard tube. STEP 4: Trace one tube sized hole on black construction paper. Punch a small viewing hole in the center. Secure this to one end of the tube with tape. Turn the tube over and place a square of plastic wrap on the other open end. Press down on the plastic wrap to create a 1 inch pocket. STEP 5: Turn the tube over and place a square of plastic wrap on the other open end. Press down on the plastic wrap to create a 1 inch pocket. STEP 6: Insert beads, sequins, and other small shiny objects in to the plastic wrap pocket. Place waxed paper square over the plastic wrap and secure plastic wrap and waxed paper tightly with a rubber band. STEP 7: Look through the hole on the black paper end and point the clear end towards a light source while slowly turning it.

1 cardboard tube (standard size is 11 inches long, diameter of 1 ¾ inches)Thick mirrored paper/ reflective mylarTape, Scissors Black construction paperHole punchPlastic wrapWaxed paperBeads, sequins, confetti, or glitterRubber band

What you will need:

Collect all 5 creative challenges in the Project 1 by ArtPrize Discovery Deck.

Heather Hart

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Heather Hart created The Oracle of the Soulmates — twin rooftop sculptures, one in the center of Rosa Parks Circle in downtown Grand Rapids, the other on the lawn of MLK Park. These submerged rooftops look like they were dropped from the sky. Combined with family and oral histories, and activated by performance, her work explores the power that threshholds and stories have in our lives.

Heather Hart’s work explores the importance and power of oral histories. Throughout time and continuing today, histories and stories told through word of mouth have shaped cultures and communities. Your creative challenge is to play the game of telephone, testing how people shape a story over time while adding their own interpretations.

1 Piece of paper (larger is better)Drawing tool (pencil, pen, colored pencil, crayon, or marker)3 friends or family members

STEP 1: Fold a piece of paper “accordion” style - 3 folds resulting in 4 panels. STEP 2: On the first panel - write a short message. STEP 3: Pass your paper to a friend or family member. Ask them to read the message, then fold the paper down so the message is not visible, and draw an interpretation of your message on the following panel. STEP 4: Pass the paper to the next person. Have them view the drawing, fold it down so it is not visible, and on the next panel write a message interpreting the drawing. STEP 5: The final person will view the message and draw an interpretation. STEP 6: Unfold the paper. How has the message been interpreted or altered through multiple perspectives?

HISTORY CONNECTION:

Oral Tradition is knowledge passed through spoken word, teaching children and adults about important aspects of their culture including traditions, laws, and literature. Oral history is the preservation of that knowledge through gathering and recording the voices and memories of participants in past events to create stronger societies for the future.

What you will need:

Creative Challenge: Power of Storytelling

Collect all 5 creative challenges in the Project 1 by ArtPrize Discovery Deck.

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Paul Amenta and Ted Lott created Critical Infrastructure for Project 1 at the Tanglefoot Building. In collaboration with DisArt, Critical Infrastructure, is an environment that addresses issues of accessibility in both form and function. The project reimagines the site by transforming a private space into a fully accessible public space.

The creators of Critical Infrastructure reimagined an existing space by transforming a private space into a public activation designed with accessibility in-mind. Your creative challenge is to consider how you would improve the function, use and accessibility of the space around you.

PaperPencil

STEP 1: On a sheet of paper, draw the space around you. STEP 2: Design this space to be welcoming, accessible and open for the public. Draw what you would place in this space and the visitors you would invite. STEP 3: Consider some of your favorite places and how could they be improved to make them accessible for everyone to enjoy.

DESIGN CONNECTION:

Universal design is a process that creates products, environments, and systems to be usable and accessible to as many people as possible regardless of age, ability, or situation. Considerations are made during the design process instead of after regarding body fit, comfort, awareness, understanding, wellness, social integration, personalization, and cultural appropriateness.

What you will need:

Creative Challenge: Reimagine Space

Collect all 5 creative challenges in the Project 1 by ArtPrize Discovery Deck.

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Olalekan Jeyifous created The Boom and the Bust for Project 1 — a monumental sculpture referencing the historic and contemporary challenges of housing discrimination and the inequities of urban life. This abstracted multi-story building form will rise 25-feet from the ground at the corner of Louis St and Monroe Ave in downtown Grand Rapids. The sculpture arises from the artist’s research into the recent history of housing in Grand Rapids. By combining references to skyscrapers and single-family houses, it reflects the juxtaposition between massive downtown development happening alongside foreclosure and displacement.

The Boom and the Bust is a public sculpture that considers how a rapidly growing city impacts neighborhoods, housing costs, and inequities. Public art can be inspired by the community where it’s located. Your creative challenge is to design a public sculpture for and inspired by your neighborhood.

Construction or cardstockDrawing tools: markers, crayons, or colored pencils ScissorsGlue

STEP 1: Sketch your ideas for a public sculpture. Consider how to represent your community or neighborhood in the design. Is there a statement or community concern you would like to bring attention to? STEP 2: Using construction paper, cardstock or cardboard, cut the shapes of your sculpture out. STEP 3: Assemble the parts of your sculpture by folding, bending, and stacking the pieces. Glue the pieces together. STEP 4: For additional support, glue the sculpture to a base of cardstock or cardboard. STEP 5: Imagine how your public sculpture might transform your community.

PUBLIC ART CONNECTION:

In 1967, Grand Rapids was building a new city hall downtown and asked the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), a young federal arts agency to help the city finance a sculpture for the plaza in front of city hall. Alexander Calder was selected to create the first civic sculpture in American history paid for by both private funding and federal funding from the NEA.

What you will need:

Creative Challenge: Sculpture Challenge

Collect all 5 creative challenges in the Project 1 by ArtPrize Discovery Deck.